Phillips Exeter Academy Class of 1980

I attended the regional Exeter Initiatives event last Saturday evening (February 26, 2005) .

Ty Tingley at the SF Exeter Initiatives Event, February 26, 2005 Click here for a few more photos. They were all handheld at long exposure times, so they’re high on ambience and low on detail, but you get the general idea

The Alumni Office has been working hard at getting people out for this event, and Ty Tingley indicated in his opening comments that there were over 300 attendees, a record for a San Francisco area alumni event. It probably didn’t hurt that the event was free, and provided free wine, beer, and soft drinks, along with a relatively substantial appetizer buffet - pasta, chinese food, sandwiches, and salads. (I ate dinner before going, though, and just had mineral water, since I drove up from Palo Alto.)

Amy Faulkner from the Alumni Office was at the front desk and told me that Ozzie Ayscue was around somewhere, but I didn’t actually run into him on the floor. Ethan Ravage called on the cell phone to let me know he was stuck in traffic headed back into San Francisco, so I didn’t see him either. Oh well.

Depending on where I was standing in the room, I could feel either really old or really young, so I guess we’re pretty squarely in the middle bracket of class ages now. It did seem that there was a larger turnout of younger classes than there used to be, which seems like a good thing. My impression of the few Exeter events I attended when I first moved to California was that people were nice, but really old.

The real reason I went to the event was to hear the presentation on the Exeter Initiatives first hand. The Initiatives are just that — a collection of major projects intended to address current and future needs and aspirations at Exeter. There is a long list of worthy projects on the table, including boosting financial aid, creating endowed faculty chairs, renovating the gym, Phillips Church, and a new focus on community-related programs such as housing and child care. There is a video about the initiatives that was shown on a pair of large projection screens at the event.

Around the reception area, there were several boards with cards printed “Exeter is…” and some blank space to fill in your own answer and post it on the board. Ty Tingley read some interesting ones that he had collected at previous events. There was also a little red oval pin that says “Exeter is…” that goes with it, so you may see some of those floating around by reunion time.

Everyone received an information package, a DVD copy of the video that was shown, and a chocolate from The Chocolatier (in Exeter) on the way out.